beginner mind

www.nancyland.com

I keep company with a two-year-old — though not as often as I’d like — and this worksheet was in her cubby when I picked her up from preschool the other day.

Where to begin on how awesome this is?

Blue is her favorite color, so I expect she started her response with that. Observe the variety of her expression, especially the very distinct, staccato marks in the lower right. Those typically come with a lot of force and flair. The rhythm and dynamic articulation, begun in the second and culminating in the fourth form, are both exploratory and concise at once.

With the introspective addition of a bonny spring kelly green, the counterpoint line work defines a new dominion, again both expansive and self-contained.

I could go on, but that would just be silly :)

The point is, someone is telling you, with bold straight lines and dotted guides: this is your name, and how it is “written”.

How will you respond?

4 thoughts on “beginner mind

  1. Mini Dork says:

    If I was 2 years old and this was given to me, I would tear it up or eat it. It is great that she filled the blank space with a variety of pen techniques. Nice lines, dots and shading. :)

  2. Nancy Enge says:

    You — we — *were* two years old, and I’m pretty sure multiple versions of this have been handed to us over the years. I’m not necessarily dissing the form, but I am really interested in how we respond.

  3. Kat says:

    The passion is evident. Lots of intense colour concentration and then another story is being told with the green. A nice colour combo!

  4. Nancy Enge says:

    Passionate mark-making and conscious color choices. Total disregard for established rules (in that she doesn’t even register their existence). Exploration. A sense of freedom. Evidence here that this is where we all began in our expressive declarations. To be so free!
    :)

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